PA Gaming Control Board Fines Casino $50,000 for Permitting Self-Excluded Persons to Gamble

Board also placed 7 individuals on its gambling exclusion lists for iGaming fraud or leaving minors unattended to gamble in casinos

HARRISBURG, PA (October 23, 2024) — The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (“Board”) approved a consent agreement today presented by the Board’s Office of Enforcement Counsel (“OEC”) during its public meeting resulting in a fine of $50,000 against Stadium Casino RE, LLC, operator of Live! Casino and Hotel Philadelphia for permitting four individuals on the Board’s Self-Exclusion list to gamble in the casino.

Pursuant Board regulations, a casino must identify self-excluded patrons and refuse gaming privileges and other gaming-related activities such as the cashing of checks or cash advances.

The approved Consent Agreement containing additional details on the incidents is available upon request through the Board’s Office of Communications.

The Board also approved recommendations by OEC for the placement of 5 individuals on the iGaming Involuntary Exclusion List.  The iGaming transactions that these individuals engaged in were investigated by the Board’s Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement (“BIE”) and found to be fraudulent in two major respects:

1. an individual used a fraudulent scheme to obtain an iGaming account in another person’s name and identifiers; and,

2. used fraud to facilitate the placement of funds into their iGaming account and, without engaging in any gaming activity, managed to have funds withdrawn from their iGaming accounts directly into their own bank account.

The specific fraudulent conduct of each individual placed on the Exclusion List is:

·         Two individuals together created 20 separate online accounts even though the operator’s Terms and Conditions forbid holding more than a single account associated with an individual;

·         An individual created 16 separate online accounts using the personal identification and credit cards of other individuals and withdrew $11,250 into his own personal bank account;

·         An individual illegally requesting and receiving chargebacks to a credit card totaling $11,125; and,

·         An individual illegally requesting and receiving chargebacks to a credit card totaling $21,600.

The Board’s actions in these matters stem from its commitment to keep individuals who have committed fraud from gaming online in Pennsylvania. The additions made today brought to 47 the total number of individuals who are currently on the iGaming Involuntary Exclusion List.

Finally on Wednesday, the Board, through exclusion petitions filed by OEC, acted to ban adults from all casinos in the Commonwealth for leaving minors unattended in order to engage in gaming activities:

·         A female patron was placed on the Involuntary Exclusion List after leaving an 11-year-old unattended in a vehicle while the outside temperature was 80 degrees in the parking garage of Live! Casino and Hotel Philadelphia for 40 minutes while she gambled at slot machines; and,

·         A female patron was placed on the Involuntary Exclusion List after leaving three minors of ages 8, 9 and 13 unattended in a hotel room at the Mount Airy Casino Resort for 1 hour 48 minutes while she gambled at table games.

Actions such as these to deny statewide gambling privileges serve as a reminder that adults are prohibited from leaving minors unattended in the parking lot or garage, a hotel, or other venues at a casino since it creates a potentially unsafe and dangerous environment for the children. To compliment the efforts by casinos to mitigate this issue, the Board created an awareness campaign, “Don’t Gamble with Kids”.

The next meeting of the Board is scheduled for 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, November 20, 2024 in the Board’s Public Hearing Room located on the second floor of the Strawberry Square Complex in Harrisburg.

About the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is tasked to oversee all aspects of gambling involving 17 land-based casinos, online casino games, retail and online sports wagering, and Video Gaming Terminals (VGTs) at qualified truck stops, along with the regulation of online fantasy sports contests.

The land-based casino industry in Pennsylvania consists of six racetrack (Category 1) casinos, five stand-alone (Category 2) casinos, two resort (Category 3) casinos and four mini-casinos (Category 4).  A significant job generator in the Commonwealth, casinos and the other types of Board-regulated gaming generated $2.54 billion in tax revenue in Fiscal Year 2023/24.

Additional information about both the PGCB’s gaming regulatory efforts and Pennsylvania’s gaming industry can be found at gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov

SOURCE: Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.